It's been too long....

Well, I've been off the blog for a while which I didn't realise until yesterday, just how long that was. My how time just swoops by. I have been holidaying in New York, visiting friends in the States and having a wonderful relaxing and recharging time. I came back home to Aus, with my mind overflowing with new ideas and things i want to try.

One thing i have been self teaching myself in, is more fabric art. I have always quilted and appliqued in a more traditional sense, but recently I'm loving applying this to my current art interests and letting my mind wander outside the square. Of course I realise I have a lot to learn yet and my work is by no means of masterclass quality..lol...but the important thing is that I'm having a ball.

I sent four of my new fabric ATC's to a recent 'Music Styles' swap...I've included their pictures here. Essentially I'm learning to paint with thread...not as easy as it looks.

The other big achievement this month has been the completion of my travel journal from New York along with a hand made and embellished fabric slip cover. I just love it so much. I completed most of the journal while on holidays, filled to the broken spine with trinkets and memories, the rest was completed back home where I had access to more of my regular supplies. The cover is a fabric fusion of two pieces of NY themed fabric...I cut out the taxi line and then stitched it into the background, adding outline stitching and beading (on the rear cover) for lights and highlights. I've included a few pages on here to share. Hope you like it....

Here are a couple of pages...there are tonnes of them, but unfortunately I can't include them all here. My art journal is something that keeps me inspired on a daily basis and I'm ever so glad I took it with me on holidays... the 'home themed' pages were inspired by a book by Angela Cartwright & Sarah Fishburn called 'In This House'. It is a book for altered art imagery and collage techniques by various artists and absolutely fantastic.

I'm hoping to combine these two mediums soon to create my first 'fabric journal'. I'll keep you posted on that one. But in the meantime I'm trying to upload all the ATC's that are way overdue on here....